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Hugo Chavez Launches his blog, two months after the creation of his Twitter account, the Venezuelan president strikes back with a new blog.

The blog http://www.chavez.org.ve/ created two days ago counts with an information platform about his government and his opinion on Venezuela’s future.

The new virtual personality of the Venezuelan president is a clear response to all the media and critics of his government that in recent months have accused him of censoring the Internet

The creation o the Chavez Twitter account has been a success among the Chavez followers. More than 50.000 messages in one week and more than 230.000 followers confirm his success. But what is really interesting are the contents of the messages that the people are sending him and the responses he is giving to them.

Chavez has established a “connection” with his followers and has showed himself like as the savior of the people. The people ask for something and he answer almost immediately solving their needs people needs.

He has transformed the Twitter idea of Social group and has turned it into a populist way of making politics. He has upgraded the traditional scenario of the plaza to a massive screen where he sends messages to the people responding to their needs into other level.

The creation of the blog is other way of getting closer to the people with the same strategy used by the opposition in the past. He understood that the internet could be a powerful tool for his political ambitions, and he created a new virtual Chavez capable of listening to the real people problems and solving them.

Chavez and his new virtual persona is an interesting case of how the meaning of spaces and uses of technology can be changed to achieve a specific purpose.

After the Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez declarations about controls over the Internet, multiple organizations, newspapers and Venezuelan users, have expressed their concerns about the government intervention in the media and the future of the freedom of speech in Venezuela.

The declarations made by Chavez after a political and gossip Website “Noticierodigital.com” falsely wrote about the assassination of one of the Venezuela’s Senior Ministers, provoked several reactions that put the topic of the internet regulation on the table.

“The internet cannon be something open where anything is said and done,” Chavez said “We have to act. We are going to ask the attorney general for help, because this is a crime.” He also complained about social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, where many of his critics planned protest against the government, arguing that those places spread unfounded rumors.

For some Venezuelan Nitizens, Chávez declarations are a real threat for the freedom of speech. Some media laws the political atmosphere, the close relations with other countries that strongly regulate the internet like Cuba and Iran and the new technological infrastructure, are some of the reasons why organizations like Human Rights Watch and the Inter American Press Association closely followed the situation calling attention, and demanded guaranties to preserve the freedom of speech in the country.

Jose Miguel Vivanco, America’s director at Human Rights Watch, said “For years, Chávez has sought to intimidate and punish broadcasters who criticize his government, now he’s also going after those who refuse to promote his own political agenda.”

One of the main concerns is the future of technological infrastructure, in the next months Venezuela will have a unique connection point, a more efficient system that provides faster access, but at the same time will allow the government to have control over the contents. It Is true that many countries like Mexico and Brazil have implemented an “only access point” but the political reality of those countries is different.

Since 1999 Chávez has intimidated and attacked the local media, as a result more than 53 radio stations have been closed, the oldest TV station “Radio Caracas Televisión” (RTVC) was taken off the public airwaves in 2007, and the opposition voice and the media freedom of speech have been reduced to the Internet. What will happen if Chavez finally has the opportunity to control it?

Despite the statements, Chavez government denied the intentions of controlling and regulating the Internet “”This is not about covering anybody’s mouth. It’s about the media acting responsibly.” said Aristobulo Isturiz, a leader of Chavez’s Socialist party. But what are the standards for judging what it is responsible media and what is not?

Venezuela is one of the South American countries that have the “desacato” law that criminalizes offending public officials, and is one of Chavez tools to control the media, almost every article o public opinion against a the government is punished. Last month Guillermo Zuluaga, owner of Globovision TV and one of the most influential critics of president Chávez, was arrested and then realized, in connection with a speech for the Inter American Press Association considered offensive to the president.

Certainly the debate will not stop here, the battle between Venezuelan Government and the media will be on the table for a long time, but what will be Chavez next move? Will he be able to censor the internet?